Biography
Mr. Smelick was an investment
banker for thirty years; Managing Principal of his own firm, Sterling
Payot Company; Managing Director of First Boston and head of this firms
West Coast Investment Banking Group; Partner of Kidder Peabody, Inc. He
is currently the Managing Partner of Headland Ventures, a family venture
capital firm. During his banking career he served on the boards of a
number of private and public companies.

For five years he has been on a journey to document the characteristics
of leadership that result in successful and innovative growth companies.
Having worked during his career with many leaders, and having served on
a number of their Boards, Mr. Smelick’s personal relationships have
allowed him to conduct candid, un-scripted, video interviews with over
100 executives of important growth companies. Over three hundred hours
of interviews have been edited into ten video packages that are used as
background for class discussions of leadership issues. The ten companies
focused on during Mr. Smelick’s course include Genentech, Nordstrom,
Pacific Telesis/AirTouch, Willamette Industries, Wired Ventures and
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream.

Mr. Smelick has also been a Visiting Lecturer at the business schools of
the University of Washington, Harvard University and the University of
San Francisco.